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Passing of the Darkness
Andavronia, a continent on the plane Khyorgan. It is home the the Andavronian Empire who keep much of the Southern regions of the plane safe and civilised. It is they who created the Lexighor Fortress Pact to ensure the safety of the towns and cities north of Lexighor who were constanly fearing an attack from the Orcs of Lexighor. Now the proud Khinara Desert Fortress still stands erect and as new as before, with its host standing proud at its walls and its weapons ready for war. Numerous times have the Orcs tried to invade the lands beyond Lexighor, but never did they succeed in doing so. But reports from spies inside Lexighor bring ill news to the Empire. Prologue: Reports from the West I looked at the troops slowly advancing towards the Deilkhos Fortress, according to the reports they should've arrived here yesterday but heavy downfall slowed down their advance. I had been instructed to move with my Cohort towards the Khinara Desert Fortress to relieve some men there, rumors had also made its way into the military that the Orcs were gathering, joining forces with each other. Whether or not it was true, nobody aside from the spies are foolish enough to venture into Lexighor. "Manius Geminius Stolo, the commander wishes to speak to you." a guard who silently entered my room said. I turned around and nodded my head to show him I understood the request. I looked one more time at the advancing cohort before leaving for the commander's quarters. "Commander, you wished to speak with me?" I said while bowing deeply until my left knee touched the ground. "Ah yes, correct. Forgive an old man who forgets the orders he had given not even 15 minutes ago. Now what was I wishing to talk about? I have written it here somewhere...", the commander said while searching through the pile of papers on his table, "Ah, here it is. I was asked to give you these additional instructions once your cohort was within sight. By nightfall they will most likely arrive here at the fortress, they will be given food and drink which we have been stockpiling for this occasion. Then, tommorow at noon you will advance towards the Khinara Desert Fortress, the journey will take 2, maybe 3 weeks at the least before you will arrive there." "These, 'additional instructions', have you read them?" I asked, wanting to know if they were of the highest secrecy or not. "No, the seal is unbroken. I did not have the authority nor the intention to open it." he said while reaching the instructions to me, I stood up and walked towards him to accept the letter. "Thank you commander Sparius Didius Dorsuo... Might I ask, have you perhaps heard the rumors about the Orcs as well?" I asked before leaving the chamber. "Yes, I indeed have. And if they are true, it would be wise to prepare our forces and take the fight to them or fall back to this mountain pass and isolate ourselves from Khyorgan breaking almost every pact we made with the other nations, and by doing so make more enemies than we could ever wish for." He replied, if his words held truth and the Orcs were indeed gathering their forces to escape from Lexighor, much of the southern regions of Khyorgan will burn down as they pillage every village and town they come across. As the commander said the cohort had reached the fortress by nightfall and I had joined up with my Centurios to inform them of my next moves. "Commander Stolo!" the centurios said in choir when I entered the officer's tent. "At ease men. We all know we're headed towards Lexighor, the Desert Fortress. Now, I've received additional instructions which I haven't read yet, I'll do that at tomorrows meeting so all of you can hear it too. As for the cohort, we continue our march by noon. If there's any other topic we should discuss?" I said while sitting down on a chair. A servant walked around the table pouring wine into the centurios' cups. None of them seemed to be having a next topic so I decided to call it a night and dismiss the meeting. The next morning a thick fog had formed in the mountain path causing the visibility to drop sharply, the advance was slower than expected and due to cliffs we lost several men before the sun even disappeared at the horizon again. The march through Deilkhos was a routine for several days, the thick fog did not seem to leave Deilkhos and men were lost every day. After 4 days the cohort had finally passed through Deilkhos and got out of the fog, when I turned around to look at the fog that had cost us the lives of many brave men, I noticed it had only clustered above Deilkhos. Knowing that something was amiss with the fog I did not give it any further attention and continued to make my way to the Khinara Desert Fortress. The road was long and progressing along its path proved to be difficult, the cohort had difficulty with the constantly changing terrain elevation. For the next week we had been travelling through a forest, but during the nights of the sixth and seventh day we lost men, we found their bodies several kilometers further down the road. Their corpses mutilated and eventually hung down from a tree. The men were nervous and demanded an increase in patrols during the nights, the centurios agreed and I gave the final order. Instead of the usual two soldiers it were now 4 to 5 men in groups patrolling around the camp. The next morning I was woken up by a centurio who's eyes were full of fear, he led me to the center of the camp where there was a small group of dead bodies. I gave the order to count the bodies but the centurios had already given the order, the total equalled that of the amount of patrolling soldiers. "Something in these woods is hunting us down one by one, for the sake of our men, we shouldn't stop anymore, make the march through this cursed wood in one continued advance...", a centurio hinted at me. His words were true but it would take at least another another week before finally getting out of these woods, the men could never handle it. "Gather 20 of our best men, I'll go out into the woods at night and search for this montrosity on my own. While I'm gone you have command over the troops, if I'm not back by tomorrow morning you continue on without me. If I would still be alive but never made it back in time I'll use the following phrase to identify myself in case I return during the night", I was thinking for a good phrase and eventually found one, "The darkness hides the horrors from the sun." Chapter 1: The Two Warriors As I made my way with the 20 men who had been gathered we ventured deeper into the woods to search for the creature which had been killing our men. The men were filled with fear, knowing that the creature could strike at any given moment. Even the slightest sound startled them, and as fear overwhelmed them they began to run off into every direction. "Men, maintain your station! Get back here! Cowardice is not a trait for a true Andavronian!" I yelled, some of my men remembered their origin, what their names mean and returned back to me. Several screams marked the deaths of those who did not come back. "A punishment that should be heavier if it were up to me, the bravest men are born in Andavronia, they did not honour that fact." We continued through the dark forest and came across one of the corpses of the deserters, it was clear that he was shred to pieces by something utilising four-fingered claws. The sound of a breaking twig alerted all of us, swords were drawn and battle positions were taken. "Get ready for the worst men, we shall die an honourable death." I said to prepare them for the fight. The wind caused our torches to die out, the sole light we had was that of the moon that got through the small gaps in the canopy allowing us to see a large figure slowly walking towards us. I carefully inspected the figure and noticed a reflection of the moonlight on the ground, it was reflected from the figure, I immediatly assumed it wore armor. when the figure walked even closer it came to a part where there was a open spot in the canopy allowing us to see the figure clearly, but one of our men was unable to take it anymore and attacked it. "No, sheathe your weapons! Stop your attack!" I yelled in an attempt to save his life, but it did not matter, before the soldier even had the chance to make a swing his sword was already fragmented into many small pieces. The soldier stood there, shocked from what just happened and was lifted into the air by the figure. "Despite this forest being dangerous, you still should not attack anything when you are not sure if it is an enemy...", the figure said while dropping the soldier on the ground. Before we realised it a small light began to illuminate in front of the figure enabling us to see the person completely, it was a Humananoid figure donned in a large Starmetal forged armor, its sword was crafted from Mithril and shone brilliantly in the moonlight. "Who are you...?" I asked out of astonishment. The figure seemed to hesitate to answer but eventually said: "I am Lothluina Felraiial, Flame of the East, Banisher of Darkness. And you, brave men of Andavronia, are far away from home, marching to the Desert I assume. Before you ask, yes I shall help you, I am here to slay the demons that recently arrived here and now lurk these woods. But right now I am searching for my consort, he went chasing one of these demons and I lost his trail." she said while taking off her helmet. While Lothluina took off her helmet her silver coloured hair became visible to us, her eyes were deep blue, resembling small saphires. "My name is Manius Geminius Stolo, Captain of the Cohort currently marching through this woods. I demand to know what kind of demons we are facing." I said, I was still nervous due to her size as she slightly towered above me. "Demand you say? I could kill you in 427 different ways if I wanted to, the most gruesome being just leaving you here to rot. I think the proper word you are looking for is request...", she replied, as an Andavronian I felt insulted but I swallowed my pride and did as she asked. "I request you to inform me what we are dealing with, my Lady." I said. "No ordinary demon, these creatures do not come from Brunikor, nor do they come from another plane, they are called the Rauko, or Sikhuran in a language you are familiar with. These creatures are no natives to these lands, they are natives to the lands in the Estran Sea, far beyond the horizon of Bossnirivhonicanioklythorn. You are right to fear them, as they are most likely scheming an evil plan, one that will cost the lives of many humans, elves, dwarves and other creatures." Lothluina said. "How do you know so much about these creatures? Have you been fi-", I tried to say before Lothluina interrupted me by putting her hand on my mouth. "Shhh, scatter your men in this open spot and do not move, do as I say and you will stay alive...", she whispered as the light disappeared and she silently ran away. "Men, scatter around me and be quiet, do not move at all and pray to your gods." I ordered, we were quickly scattered and we heard the sound of something with armor moving towards us. A heavy pressure befell us as the sound became louder and eventually we saw what was coming closer. A cloud of gas was faintly glowing and came towards us, slowly at first but then faster and faster. It stopped in front of us and changed form, showing a large muscular creature donned in a dark armor, its hand was sliding towards its hip, where a belt carrying several small and large knives was hanging, to take a knife. He was slowly sliding the knife across one of my men's armor seemingly unaware of us actually being here. The creature looked down and noticed a fluid coming from the soldier, he was peeing his pants out of fear. We watched how the creature raised his arm and stabbed the knife with all of his force through the soldier, the crenated knife tore through armor, bone and flesh, wreaking even more damage when pulling it out. Convinced that the creature was now aware of our presence I ordered the attack, the soldiers drew their swords and marched at the beast that put away his knife and drew a long blade he carried on his back. Without any trouble he swung the large sword with only one hand while using the claws on his other hand to grab another soldier and hurl him towards a tree. While it was occupied Lothluina took her opportunity and charged at the beast planting her sword deep inside its back causing it to come out of its chest. As the beast began to cough up blood it swung its arm at Lothluina which she easily evaded and got stabbed in the face numerous times before finally collapsing. I stood there, carrying my small sword that was made to stab instead of slashing, having the blood of both the beast and my men on me. I looked around and saw the corpses of most of my men, only one survived but was mortally wounded. "No...no, no, no...this can't be real," I whined as I fell on my knees, "if my best men can't best this beast then I fear for the safety of my beloved Empire." I began to make my way to the mortally wounded soldier on my knees and tried to tend to his wounds. The crenated weapons the Sikhuran used had made deep wounds into the soldier, damaging his internal organs, he was going to meet his gods soon. "Soldier, pray to your god, it does not matter which one, but pray so that you are allowed into the afterlife, for your wounds are deep and untreatable. If you want me to I shall pave the way for you to pass on...", I whispered into his ear. With closed and wet eyes he slowly nodded his head. I raised my sword and planted it into his heart. "Be free my brethren...", I said as I pulled the sword out. "I am sorry about the loss of your men...", Lothluina said as she lay her hand on my shoulder, I cleaned my sword and got up again. "We still have to search for your consort, did you perhaps find a trace already?" I said. She nodded and said she had found traces of a battle a little bit north of my current position. I sheathed my sword and picked up the shield of one of my fallen soldiers, "lead the way", I said as I stepped aside to let Lothluina pass. We ran through the forest passing numerous places where signs of battle were visisble, marked trees, broken swords, blood, Sikhuran corpses, all signs indicated that we were headed the right direction. At a certain point I was able to hear the clashes of arms in the distance, Lothluina and I halted and saw a figure in the distance in an armor of what seemed to be Adamant painted in a dark color. "Come on you beasts, stop hiding in your shadows!" the person yelled, a Sikhuran appeared behind him and was ready to attack with his claws but Lothluina's consort was quick and was able to strike first. The Sikhuran roared in pain as its arm flew through the air and landed several meters further, the next attack was aimed at its head which quickly afterwards was seperated from the Sikhuran's body. A loud roar marked the final attack, the Sikhurans stormed the person from all sides, at least 7 of them appeared from the shadows. Several quick attacks and the use of magic enabled him to take 5 of them down with ease before Lothluina joined the fight. Realising that they cannot fight the two of them the Sikhurans fled into the darkness. "We have won, but alas, the enemy has escaped.", Lothluina's consort said while taking of his helmet. Lothluina ran towards the man and embraced him while saying: "I am glad you are okay, it was foolish to fight them all on your own." "Foolish but succesful, I would rather prefer they strike at me rather than they can harm you.", he said. They kissed each other but then LOthluina realised I was still around. "Manius, come over here!" she yelled, "meet my consort, Gaenry Elestirn. Gaenry, Manius." she said as she introduced us to each other. Gaenry reached out his arm at me, I looked questioningly at him. "Go on, shake my hand, it won't bite or fall off." he said as he came closer to me. I reached out my hand as well and shook his hand, slowly at first but with his help it went smoothly. "I'm sorry, we meet each other by touching each other's left shoulder. This is the first time I ever shook hands or saw anyone do it." I said to apologise to this strange custom. "If that's what you do then we'll also do it your way." Gaenry said as he put his hand on my left shoulder, I did the same and smiled at him while saying: "Allow me to introduce myself properly, Manius Geminis Stolo, Captain of the tenth Cohort of Legio II Deilkhosica. Tasked with reinforcing the Khinara Desert Fortress, at your service, if it wasn't for Lothluina I would have been killed some time ago." "And let me introduce myself properly as well, I am Gaenry Elestirn, son of Aetheoran Elestirn and soon to be father of Subrylla Elestirn. Former Doomknight of Lothardorin on the island Tokara, Destroyer of Light and Messenger of the Darkness." Gaenry said, his last line made me nervous, 'Destroyer of Light' and 'Messenger of the Darkness', I asked him why he got these titles and replied with the following. "What you consider evil is what I see as good, I am born in a culture with different beliefs, and there's no way you could truly understand this, a hard truth I learned in my long travels." "So you two are connected to each other?" I asked out of curiousity. "Yes, while we both have different beliefs and had a different education we fit quite well with each other. What the one lacks the other fills up, my magic is centered around illusion, destruction and power...", Gaenry said. "While my magic is centered around healing, defence and clairvoyance." Lothluina continued. I asked what their plans were, they told me that now the Sikhurans had fled they are free. Hoping I could convince them I began to go further into detail about my mission and told them we could use the extra help. "If the Orcs are indeed about to attack the Desert Fortress with a combined force then all of the southern lands will be in grave danger. I'm willing to go if Lothluina goes as well.", Gaenry informed. "If Gaenry is willing to follow me to even the depths of the abyss and Brunikor, then why should I forbid him to release some of his stress in Lexighor, count me in.", Lothluina said after carefully looking into Gaenry's eyes. Realising I could never reach the camp back in time I decided to stay with the Two Warriors and march towards the fortress with them, they themselves decided to sleep for the time being. Chapter 2: Martial Law The next morning Lothluina and Gaenry had already prepared a meal for both themselves and me, they told me I could better eat something before packing my things. When I was finally done with eating and managed to pack all my belongings we started our march towards Khinara, the first few days were on foot but when we came across a small town called Bymire where we were able to buy a couple of horses. Gaenry said he hoped that the horses could stay alive this time as they were killed during their fights with the Sikhuran. It took another week and 2 days to finally reach Khinara where men and women were running in all directions, carrying materials, pulling carts containing ore or just bringing their children away. I ordered a soldier to halt and asked what was going on. "Martial Law Captain, we've received word of an approaching army from the south. At least 10.000 Orcs are advancing towards Khinara. The Commander has ordered all able bodied men and women to report and prepare for battle. In the meantime our swords are being forged and sharpened.", the soldier replied before continuing his orders. "This is ill news indeed, I will ask the Commander of the fortress if he has already sent a messenger calling for help. We shall need the reinforcements if we wish to win this fight, all we can do is stop them here, where we can." I said to Gaenry and Lothluina. Epilogue: A New Dawn Category:Stories